The present invention relates to a displaying method in an information processing apparatus. More particularly, it relates to a displaying method in an information processing apparatus that is capable of displaying a picture which enables a user to easily operate the information processing apparatus when he or she uses it so as to execute some kind of processing.
When a user, using an information processing apparatus, wishes to execute some kind of processing so as to accomplish a purpose, it is common for he or she to select either of the following approaches: Proceeding to processing which is oriented toward an object to be processed (referred to as object oriented processing hereinafter) or proceeding to processing which is oriented toward a task to be processed (referred to as task oriented processing).
Meanwhile, a conventional displaying method in information processing apparatuses is configured in such a manner that operation is possible from only one of the two approaches, i.e., object oriented processing or task oriented processing.
Also, processing in information processing apparatuses using the displaying method according to the conventional technique is started by an indirect operation such as a single click with a mouse with respect to a plurality of processings that are being displayed.
Moreover, as the conventional technique concerning the displaying method in information processing apparatuses, a variety of displaying methods have been proposed for an enhancement in the usability of information processing apparatuses.
In the above-described conventional techniques, operation is possible only from either of the approaches, i.e., object oriented processing or task oriented processing. This results in a problem that it is difficult to effectively deal with a lot of tasks and various types of objects. Also, in the conventional techniques, only either of the approaches is usable. This brings about a problem that a flexible operation is difficult to achieve.
Also, in the above-described conventional techniques, execution of a command that requires an enormous amount of access time is stated upon an indirect operation such as a single click with a mouse. This gives rise to a problem that, if a command is selected that is against an intention of the user, this operation mistake will cause an enormous amount of waiting time to occur.
Also, the above-described conventional techniques have a problem that, when a displaying is executed using an expandable/reducible tree having a hierarchical structure, it is impossible to display states, such as an emergency state of a leaf node hidden under a higher order node.
Also, in the above-described conventional techniques, information about the attributes of which are different for each of a plurality of independent windows or frames are displayed on the windows or frames. This condition results in a problem that there exists a limitation to the monitor resolution and, in the case of a large number of pictures involved, the apparatus becomes difficult to operate. Also, since the plurality of pictures are displayed in parallel at a time, it is difficult to impress, on the user, a situation that one object is being displayed from a variety of viewpoints.
Also, in the above-described techniques, when a lot of execution results are concentrated in a schedule area within a fixed period of time, symbols representing the execution results are displayed in a state of being physically overlapped with each other. This condition results in a problem that is difficult to arbitrarily identify the symbols within the schedule area by operations such as the mount operation. Incidentally, in the above description, the schedule area means an area where execution results of a Job and a JobNet, i.e., execution forms are displayed in time series with the use of tabular form.
Also, the above-described conventional techniques have a problem that when, in a display using a tab, an event requiring an emergent processing occurs within a tab, the conventional technique, if the tab is hidden, is incapable of displaying the event that has occurred within the hidden tab.